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High income earning parents seem to have a weight off their shoulders. They don't have to worry about covering the nut, scrounging for sitters or keeping bill-collectors happy. How can more women get out of the pay-check-to-pay-check life and break the seven-figure ceiling?

By looking at what black women millionaires are doing differently.

That's what Dr. Venus Opal Reese, an entrepreneur and academic who is the CEO of Defy Impossible, says. Drawing on her 20 years of teaching, research and personal experience rising up from a homeless youth in Baltimore to the recipient of a PhD. from Stanford, Reese examines black women's history to guide people toward some ways to earn more -- for men and women of all ethnicities.

Looking at the dual narrative for black women seems to be a paradox. On one hand businesses owned by women of color -- 42 percent of them African American -- have skyrocketed since 1997. This has far surpassed even the impressive growth rate of businesses owned by all women. And they've grown far faster in terms of revenues and employees than the average for all women.

On the other hand, compared with other women in the U.S., black women are less likely to be employed, insured, to hold college degrees or be represented in elected office.

"The survival strategies our ancestors learned from slavery are passed down to us and become our 'normal'," Reese says. "We're taught that to feel good about ourselves, we have to work hard, sacrifice for others, prove ourselves, overcome. Those are survival skills for which we are socially rewarded. But when we allow society to dictate our inherent value, our self-worth, we will always come up short."

That's why so many smart, successful black women stay in jobs they hate, Reese says. These are jobs that pay well but will never allow them to achieve their financial potential. That's why, she adds, they sacrifice for their children, their church, their community, but not themselves.

As employees, Reese says, we rent out our behaviors for a certain number of hours each day. We're paid to use our skills and accomplish tasks that benefit our employer. She suggests giving up the working-class mentality of making money from what you "do" and start making money from what you "know." Everyone has a skill, but not everyone has your story and your particular perspective on life. What you've learned is your million-dollar message that can be monetized to launch your entrepreneurial dream.